...to be built like a marathon runner

DAY 0
Today's Weight: 222.5 lbs
Lost to Date: 0.0 lbs (Actually 67.5 lbs Since July 2001)
Left to Lose: 57.5 lbs

1997

I'm going to beging my story in January of 1997. I was 22 years old, fresh out of university, and 262 pounds. I joined Weight Watchers where I was the star of the class, and I was down to 209 pounds within a few months.


2001

This picture was taken on my 27th birthday. June 22nd, 2001. I am about 290 pounds in this shot. That's right, I gained back all the weight I had lost, plus another 30 pounds.

A couple of weeks after this picture was taken, my 2-year-old daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. After she was released from the hospital, our family started eating a lot healthier, and I ended up losing about 15 pounds over the next 3 months.

I wanted to join Weight Watchers again to speed up my weightloss, but I was really scared I would be 320 pounds three years later.

With weightloss alone, you get to your goal weight and you're done. I needed a bigger goal, something that would take a long time. If I could do an Ironman, I would be so far past the weightloss goalposts, there would be no turning back.

So I joined Weight Watchers again, this time with the goal of completing an Ironman.

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2002

By January 2002, I was down to about 240 pounds and I decided to join a Learn to Run clinic that was being offered in our community -- to train for the Vancouver Sun Run 10k. By April 2002, I weighed 210 pounds when I completed the Sun Run in 52 minutes and 7 seconds. It was official, I was a runner!

Over the next few months, my weight dropped down as low as 193 pounds. I even completed my first sprint distance triathlon that summer.


August 18, 2002. My First Triathlon.
Why do people who just lost a bunch of weight always feel the need to dress up in spandex? I actually finished 11th overall, out of a field of 187. And my bike split was faster than anyone else in the entire race.


In November 2002 I completed my first half marathon in 1 hour and 49 minutes.

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2003

In January of 2003 I started training for the Vancouver Marathon. My goal was to finish the race in 3:30. I was on pace for 3:30 up until the half way point, and then I ran out of gas. I ended up finishing in a disappointing 3:49 after suffering through the last 21km.

May 1, 2003. Vancouver Marathon. My first (and only) marathon. 3:49:44 Finish.

My son was born in June 2003, and priorities were starting to shift a bit with a new baby in the family.

In August 2003, I completed the Bigfoot Half Ironman. That was the last triathlon I did. I loved doing tri's, but I decided I would put off doing a full Ironman for a few years until my kids were a little older and I had more time to train properly. It was going to take a lot of training. I was no longer happy just to finish an Ironman, if I was going to do it, I wanted to be good at it.

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2004

After putting my Ironman dreams on the back burner, I needed a new challenge. Jaunaury 1st 2004, I completed my first ultramarathon. It was called the FatAss 50k, and I completed it in 6 hours and 30 minutes. By this time, I had put a few pounds back on, and I was about 210 pounds again.

I did the Kneeknacker 30 Mile Trail Race on July 10th 2004 and finishined in a disappointing 9:03:41 (yes thats 9 hours folks).

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2005

This picture was taken at the 2005 Kneeknacker on July 09th, 2005. I am about 215 pounds in this shot. In 2005, I managed to shave nearly 48 minutes of my Kneeknacker time, finishing in 8:15:41.

The next race on my schedule for 2005 was the Haney to Harrison 100km ultramarathon. After about a month and a half of training, I had to drop out due to a posterior tibial tendonitis injury that wasn't healing properly while I was training at 80-90km per week. I dropped my mileage at the end of August down to about 30km per week.

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September 2005

Since I couldn't train really hard while I was letting my injury heel, I decided it was a good time to lose weight. So I bought some software from fitday.com, and started recording everything I ate. My starting weight on September 6, 2005 was 222.5 pounds (a few days after this photo was taken).

I am calling this my "Boston Diet", because my goal is to qualify for the Boston Marathon. In order qualify, I have to run a marathon in 3 hours and 10 minutes. My plan is to run a Boston qualifier at the Vancouver Marathon next year. I need to be about 165 pounds to make this happen. The last time I weighed 165 pounds was in grade eight.

Here's the deal: If I qualify for Boston, I'm going to drive up to Penticton at the end of August (2006) and sign up for Ironman Canada 2007.

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Update: January 2006

January 17th, 2006 (170.5 lbs / 13.6% Body Fat). I have been on my Boston Diet for 133 days, and I have lost 52 lbs. I only have 5.5 lbs left to go, but I have hit a plateau and its starting to interfere with training. Right now I'm in the third week of training for the Vancouver Marathon.

I have decided to take a couple of weeks off from the diet to get my metabolism back up to a normal level. Then I will continue to lose the last 5 pounds really slowly as I progress with my marathon training.